Flashing Radios - AT&T, Rogers HTC One X, Telstra One XL

What're the benefits of flashing radios?
Is it better to flash radios or stick with the stock ones?
I'm not even sure how it works much, since I've never touched mines..
Ive heard stories where flashing radios just made people's problems worst ...
And I heard some tip before that it's better to just stick with the stock one...

They are all stock, just pulled from different firmware versions. It's probably best to use the radio that matches the base of your rom, but some people have reported better results with different radios. If you have problems with a particular radio, you can just flash a different one.

iElvis said:
They are all stock, just pulled from different firmware versions. It's probably best to use the radio that matches the base of your rom, but some people have reported better results with different radios. If you have problems with a particular radio, you can just flash a different one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With stock I mean the one that comes with the phone when you bought it ..lol
But I know see I've been looking at it differently.
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda app-developers app

Radio flashing is almost always a trial and error affair, which is why you have heard of some people have worse reception after flashing a new radio. This is due to the fact that radio reception is often very geographically specific (as in specific town, or even specific tower/towers). So what works for some people, may not work well for you. A different radio may get you slightly better reception and battery life, or might make it worse. But the difference is usually not a huge one.
Newer radios can sometimes yield slightly better results than older ones. But again, its not always a sure thing. Lots of people had better WiFi reception with newer radios, while others did not.
Radios are also matched to ROMs via RIL. Although I haven't noticed this in itself to make a huge difference.
If you are on a custom ROM, and the dev recommends a certain radio, then try to use that. Otherwise, if you are getting pretty good reception and battery life, and you are in doubt about flashing radios, just leave it alone.
If you are on the 1.14 hboot that came with the 2.20 AT&T firmware, none of this may matter for you, as you cannot flash Sense radios on hboot 1.14, and you are stuck with the one you are on (or can only upgrade via OTA or RUU). CM10 radios can still be flashed.

Related

[Q] Do all the newer ROMS require updated radio?

[flame jacket on]
Been using Perfect Storm 1.3 and was pretty pleased to the point I haven't updated the ROM in several weeks. It seems all the newer ROMs require the updated radio and quality appears to be pretty hit/miss. Do all the newer ROMs require the radio update? In reading through threads it seems general advice is that if you're not having issues, to not mess with it.
I don't think it's REQUIRED, just recommended that you run the newest radio. I would just flash the ROM with your current radio and if you run into problems then upgrade to the new radio.
Just my opinion but I think it's always best to follow the instructions given by the developer of the ROM. If it says to update the radio before flashing, imo, it's best to do so.
Coo beans, honestly couldn't tell if it's was obligatory or not. Seems each dev has their own preference. Will give it a whirl, thanks much.
In simple words NO! You dont have to use the new radio, even Adraynalyn(hope I spelled that right) lol, has said the older radio is more stable and all the reboots people are experiencing if there are any are due to the new radio.
It is not required in *any* rom. I do not use it because it reboots on me all the time.

[Q] Whats the deal with flashing radios??

I have seen a couple of different ROMS suggesting you flash a certain radio for them. I've heard that messing up while flashing a radio bricks the phone so I'm kind of thinking I want to steer clear of that.
Is it really necessary to change radios between ROMS?
I'd like to know about that as well.
+1
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710a using XDA Premium App
You don't have to flash a radio, but if you don't you should find the RIL files for your current radio and flash them for best performance and gps signal.
ImHuge07 said:
I have seen a couple of different ROMS suggesting you flash a certain radio for them. I've heard that messing up while flashing a radio bricks the phone so I'm kind of thinking I want to steer clear of that.
Is it really necessary to change radios between ROMS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some ROMs work better with radios recommended by that ROMs developer.
You don't necessarily need to flash different radios unless you experience performance issues with GPS, Wi-fi, Phone signal etc.
Hope this helps.

Using Fido - Which radio would be best?

I've thought about switching to a new radio to see if I could improve performance, but I have no idea which one I should go with. I tried Radio KB3 as I read some people saying it was best... it gave me the exact same performance as the default one, so I just went back to that, though.
Should I just try a bunch of different ones, or is there generally one that works best for people on Rogers/Fido?
No radio flash will transform your phone into something vastly superior than what you are currently using.
Me? I'm on KB3 on AT&T in the Western US and it works great. Much better than the stock radio.
Not sure what that means, but it's uncapped on upload and makes me happy. No other radio will launch my phone into 5g speeds or anything. Minute tweaks and I'm pleased with KB3.
yeah, try not to mess up too much with the radio, else you can really kill the phone.
if you purchased the correct phone for the correct network, you don't need to change radio, unless the phone is 2nd hand, and it had major problem to begin with
don't fix what it's not broken
if you are on the 4g try the ke1 that's what i'm running and it's nice.

Greetings!!!

Been lurking here for a few weeks, reading, studying, learning, and my eyes are still red...
I just wanted to share my experience so far and get some feedback.
Rooting
I followed the 1 click Ace Hack Kit to the letter, still had an issue where my phone wouldn't boot, screen was on but black, and had to re-install stock from the Ace Kit to correct it. Phone Rooted
Custom Rom
Reviewed all the Inspire Roms and decided on the Revolution HD 6.1.3
Again following everything to the letter, I couldn't get SuperWipe to run, it would abort, but did the full manual wipe (wipe data/factory reset - dalvik cache) in the the boot loader as in the sticky guide for flashing roms, radio's, etc. Was able to install 6.1.3
Q: Is there really any difference between doing it manually and running the SuperWipe Script?
Radio's - Read the Radio Sticky numerous times. Shoot, so far the recommended radio for HD is kicking but however, still have a fundemental question.
Q. I get that it's a gamble, but what sets these radio's apart from what AT&T gives on their stock phone?
I read in the radio sticky they are sort of area specific or vary by location. May or may not be good, try it... I don't get that because I could buy a Inspire in CA, use it in FL, and the stock radio doesn't change. I get that these coders and developers are freaking awesome and above my head, but intrigued none the less.
Doesn't it really come down to tower coverage? Still putting the radio puzzle together after much reading.
Anyway, I wanted to post a BIG THANKS in the Revolution HD Thread but can't as of yet.
I really like the 6.1.3 ROM so far. Some here may hate Sense, but I like the eye candy.
XDA is cool site and still have a lot to learn.
Hey, at least my first post wasn't "How do I boot loop my new phone?"
I'll see you around
Some will say the radio is region specific. I and others find no evidence of that. The Dev will recommend the radio for the matched ROM you choose. That should be your best bet.
Welcome!
I actually don't know if superwipe does anything special or just takes the hassle out of wiping partitions and FDR and cache. in my experience it doesn't make a difference which I do as long as I do one or the other, or both.
As for radios, there are different settings in the build.prop I believe (correct me if i'm wrong) that's set by each version of each radio (and other settings in more places?) but basically it boils down to different settings causing the phone to interact with the network differently. I never had luck with any of the recommended revolution radios so I would always stick to an inspire OTA or update radio and flash the corresponding RIL (radio interface layer, must match the radio you install).
come to think of it now, it might be the RIL that sets the build prop and other settings. now i'm just confused...
The build prop will remain the same regardless of what RIL or radio you use. The devs tweak settings in the build prop to try and squeeze a little more bandwidth but honestly I have never seen a definite increase in speeds by changing these settings. When the inspire was released it did not have the necassary settings to run 4g. They released a radio and new build prop with an update that enabled 4g. People on 3g would not have seen a difference even to this day. This all took place in the froyo days. The build prop has several settings for many aspects of the phone. The build prop only changes when edited by you or the dev.
It's always good to use recommended radios as that will match the RIL in your phone. I have read that new RIL's are backwards compatible as long as you are using a froyo radio on froyo and a gingerbread radio on gingerbread. The only official gingerbread radio released for the inspire is 26.10.04.03 which goes with RIL 2.2.0160. So in my exeperience as long as the RIL is this or higher you might as well just use the official radio. The one recommended for arhd is 26.13.04.19 which is what matches 2.2.0179 but 26.10.04.03 will also work since the RIL is newer than the radio. But if you used 26.13.04.19 on an older RIL like 2.2.0160 you may encounter problems.
As always though, do not report bugs or make any judgements on performance, unless you are using the recommended radio and have not changed the RIL.
Sent from my Inspire 4G Using XDA Premium
Agoattamer said:
Some will say the radio is region specific. I and others find no evidence of that. The Dev will recommend the radio for the matched ROM you choose. That should be your best bet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I travel alot and can tell you that it really can depend on where you are. One radio and ril works great in alaska but if I go to the lower 48 I normally have to swap them for a different set to get better signal.
zelendel said:
I travel alot and can tell you that it really can depend on where you are. One radio and ril works great in alaska but if I go to the lower 48 I normally have to swap them for a different set to get better signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically as there is only 1 official radio/ril for ATT gingerbread I would be curious to what you use and where. I know you have mentioned radios being location dependant but I can't recall you ever saying what you use.
Agoattamer said:
Technically as there is only 1 official radio/ril for ATT gingerbread I would be curious to what you use and where. I know you have mentioned radios being location dependant but I can't recall you ever saying what you use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Radio: 12.56.60.25_26.10.04.03_M
Ril: HTC-RIL 2.2.0153HM
Is what I use in alaska as the ATT rom and ril give me less signal then this one and when I go into the lower 48 I use
Radio: 12.39a.60.19x_26.06.06.30_M
Ril: HTC-RIL 2.2.0079HM

Outdated Radios / Auto-updating?

When I've previously ROM'd my phones in the past, one issue I always came across was the radios getting out dated. I found myself scheduling a "once a month check" calendar alert to remind me to go out and find the latest radios to update.
Ugh, tedious... I hear the stock ROMs from carriers auto-update the radios? If not, is that what the PTL updates do?
Now that I am back to Android after a limited WP7 hiatus, I'm about to ROM again. But this time, I want to have these radios auto-updating with a custom ROM.
Is that possible? Or is that part of the big-brother stuff from the carrier's software that does that?
Using custom roms or stock roms will indeed update your radio.
However, if you've got a ****ty network operator, he might not update as often as needed. I was stuck with radio problems with some customs roms too...
Be careful, newest is far from always better with radio versions ! They mix a lot of parameters, sometimes you get a better signa, at the expense of a lot of battery life.
VikoAlucard said:
Using custom roms or stock roms will indeed update your radio.
However, if you've got a ****ty network operator, he might not update as often as needed. I was stuck with radio problems with some customs roms too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Could you explain what a "network operator" is? Is that someone managing the ROM's radios remotely? Like, the person to donate to?
Who is updating the radios "for me"? I didn't think that was automatic with ROMs?
VikoAlucard said:
Be careful, newest is far from always better with radio versions ! They mix a lot of parameters, sometimes you get a better signa, at the expense of a lot of battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been there, done that! lol I use have 3 or 4 radio packages on my phones, ready to install depending on where I flew to. "Damn, got a bad signal here. Let me try a different radio. Ah yes, there we go."

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